Compare Silver Health Insurance Plans

What Is the Silver Plan?

The Affordable Care Act, sometimes called the ACA, defines four new types of health insurance plans for individuals and families. The four types of plans, ranked from most expensive out-of-pocket costs for consumers to the least, are: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. All of these plans will offer the same minimum of benefits. These minimum benefits are determined by the federal and state government and must be included in a plan regardless of any additional benefits the plan decides to include.

For an insurance company to participate in an exchange, i.e. a state-run marketplace offering Affordable Care Act plans, the company does not have to offer all four plans but it must offer at least the Silver Plan and also the Gold Plan.

The Silver Plan generally has lower out-of-pocket costs than the Bronze Plan but higher out- of-pocket costs than both the Gold and Platinum Plans. All Silver Plans share the same minimum health benefits but the way they charge out-of-pocket costs can differ significantly.

Silver Obamacare Plans

What Are The Silver Plan’s Out-of-Pocket Costs?

Based on an average person’s expected use of healthcare services, Silver Plans are designed to have the insurance company pay 70% of covered healthcare expenses. The remaining 30% of expenses are paid out-of-pocket by the policyholder. These out-of-pocket expenses include deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance. However, the plan’s monthly premium is not included as one of these out-of-pocket costs.

Tax Credit for Individuals & Families

The Affordable Care Act provides federal tax credits to people with middle incomes and low incomes whether they are buying individual or family insurance plans. The tax credit is based on the Silver Plan’s premiums.

Silver Plan Premiums

Silver plans have the second lowest premium rates of the four new types of plans since they are designed to have the second highest out-of-pocket costs. However, there may be instances where the Silver Plan of one insurance company may charge a lower premium than the Bronze Plan of another insurance company, as well as instances where the Gold or Platinum Plan of one insurance company may charge a lower premium than the Silver Plan of another insurance company.

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